Black Enterprise's CEO featured at Shark Pool event

Sep. 27, 2013

Earl Graves Jr., is president and CEO of Black Enterprise.

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Shark Pool Finalists

Earl Graves Jr., CincyTech’s Mike Venerable and Daniel Polaniecki of the Business Backer will evaluate pitches from these five local finalists competing for cash and business resources valued at $100,000. • Alia Ali, Chill Shaved Ice Bar: Offers shaved ice confection with natural syrups without artificial colors or preservatives. • Kenneth Davidson, For Sure Products: Disposable Unique Bath Towel Wipe allows users to moisturize after bathing or showering without having to use oils or lotions. • Khisaun Ferguson, DWLLR Inc: Business management system provides solutions to simplify property sales. • Alice Huff, Tia Marie & Co.: Luggage line addresses specific travel needs of large groups and families. • Carla Stokesbary, Pillow Comforts: Pillow holds user’s head in comfortable upright position while his or her hair is being styled.

IF YOU GO

When: Friday at the Sharonville Convention Center. Dinner starts at 6 p.m.; the program starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $150 for corporations and $100 for MBEs and general public. To purchase tickets:http://aacsharkpool.eventbrite.com or call (513) 751-9900.

The event

Earl Graves Jr. and two local investors will evaluate the marketability of products pitched by five entrepreneurs.

The speaker

Graves runs Black Enterprise multimedia empire, which includes the magazine, two TV shows and a website.

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Earl Graves Jr. knows all about the unique challenges that minority businesses face. His father is the legendary entrepreneur and former CEO of Black Enterprise, which Graves Jr. now heads.

Graves’ background and extensive business experience make him a perfect choice to be this year’s special guest for Friday’s Shark Pool event coordinated by the African American Chamber of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Graves succeeded his father in 2006 as president and CEO of Black Enterprise, which today is a full-blown multimedia company. In addition to its monthly magazine, Black Enterprise has two television shows and a robust website that includes breaking news and business resources.

Issues of succession planning for minority businesses and access to resources and capital for growth are front and center not just for Black Enterprise, but for the local business community as well. It has made creating an environment where minority- and women-owned businesses can flourish a key part of its economic development strategy.

Graves, who has degrees from Yale and Harvard University and played one season in the NBA, talked about these topics in advance of tonight’s Shark Pool event.

DO MINORITIES FACE unique challenges when it comes to starting and growing a business?

The short answer to the question is yes, but it’s not simple enough to say that most of the challenges are attached to racism in some way, shape or form. And there are challenges every entrepreneur, regardless of race or gender, has to face. The biggest one is people doubting you and not being willing to invest.

Is there a greater challenge in minority entrepreneurs trying to attract capital? Yes, that is a more difficult door to get open. Is it more difficult for African-American entrepreneurs to secure contracts with larger businesses? Yes, it is more challenging.

What we say to entrepreneurs is if you just take it as a given that it’s going to be more difficult, you’ll never be surprised.

CAN YOU DISCUSS the importance of access to opportunity for minority-owned businesses?

Many minority businesses have been locked out of the system for a lack of access to the right people. And you can level the playing field. That doesn’t mean companies need to start expecting to get inferior products or inferior service. They should still demand everything they demand of anybody else.

But you do need to open up the playing field and let people understand what the criteria are. And ultimately, your suppliers should be reflective of the communities you serve.

WHAT’S THE GOAL of your private equity fund?

It’s called the Black Enterprise Procurement Opportunity Fund. The biggest challenge that minority-owned businesses face is really scale. Say a firm supplies cups and saucers, but the most it’s done in sales was $2 million. A small contract for a Procter & Gamble might be $10 million. But that $10 million would dwarf what the smaller business did, so it wouldn’t be able to take on that contract. We’re going to invest in those businesses and get them up to scale so that they can not only accept a $10 million contract, they can accept a $50 million contract.

THE MEDIA BUSINESS is going through a transformation. How has Black Enterprise navigated the tough environment?

Being candid, the media business has been terrible the past five years. Not because the media’s no longer important, it’s because traditional media has been turned over on its head and forced to make changes in how we deliver content and distribute content in a way that perhaps nobody was thinking about 10 years ago.

Fortunately for us, we are a multimedia company, and have been for a long period of time. We have two television shows, put on professional development events, we do customized events, we have the print magazine, and of course digital.

Our business has changed because we were a monthly publication. Suddenly, we went from having to provide information to our readers on a monthly basis to now having to provide our readers information on an hourly basis. And our strategy for surviving is making sure what we deliver in the magazine is more investigative pieces, or more thorough pieces that are not time-sensitive.

DID YOU ALWAYS think you’d be part of the family business when you were growing up?

My father never said, “I expect one of you to come in and be a part of this business,” but he certainly included us along the way. I started thinking in college that this might be something I wanted to do. A lot of businesses don’t pass from one generation to the next generation because they don’t do a whole lot in the way of succession planning, and we did. We had a plan. So I had plenty of time working with (my father) and training with him and all of the above to understand the business. ■